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A big weekend coming up with a couple of major shows, with TNA's Against All Odds PPV on Sunday and ROH's 8th anniversary show on Saturday night from the Manhattan Center, as well as the taping for the final episode of ECW which will be Tuesday night in Kansas City.
We're looking for reports from last night's TNA house show in Charlottesville, VA as well as last night's Smackdown house show in Quito, Ecuador as well as tonight's Raw show in East Lansing, MI, Smackdown show in Guayaqui, Ecuador and TNA house show in Norfolk, which has A.J. Styles, with Ric Flair doing his first house show with TNA as a manager, facing Kurt Angle. There is also a King of the Cage show tonight on HDNet live at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Saturday has Raw in Madison, WI and Smackdown in San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as the ROH Anniversary show headlined by Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black for the ROH title with judges Roderick Strong, Kenny King and Jim Cornette if they go 60 minutes, plus Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Dark City Fight Club for the tag titles, Strong vs. Brian Kendrick and Davey Richards vs. El Generico.
Sunday is the Against All Odds PPV for TNA from Orlando headlined by A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe for the TNA title, Team 3-D vs. Nasty Boys and a one night-single elimination eight card stud tournament with first round matches of Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson, Abyss vs. Mick Foley, Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez, and Desmond Wolfe vs. The Pope.
Sunday also has the rescheduled Raw date at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, and Smackdown in Guadalajara. New Japan also has its first Sumo Hall show of the year with Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi for the IWGP title, Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito vs. El Terrible & El Texano Jr. for the IWGP tag team titles, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Gedo & mystery partner for IWGP jr. tag titles, Hirooki Goto vs. Masato Tanaka and Tajiri vs. Yuji Nagata.
Monday has Raw live from Des Moines with Jerry Springer as guest host, and a triple main event of John Cena vs. HHH, Kofi Kingston vs. Ted DiBiase and Randy Orton vs. Sheamus. TNA will also be taping Monday in Orlando.
Tuesday has Smackdown in Kansas City headlined by Edge's first singles match back against Batista, as well as Smackdown matches of Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson in an Extreme rules match for the ECW title and Miz & Big Show vs. Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu for the tag titles on the final episode of the show.
Smackdown tonight has:
* Undertaker vs. Jericho no DQ
* Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
* Drew McIntyre vs. Kane
* Matt Hardy & Great Khali vs. Hart Dynasty
* Truth vs. Morrison in the match where Morrison supposedly hurt his ankle
* Mickie vs. Layla
One of the biggest biographies in the history of the Observer, a look at the life and career of Jack Brisco, is the subject of one of two issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter coming out this coming week.
A look at WrestleMania this year, how it's shaping up, the top matches, the Elimination Chamber preceding it and how the past several years shows have performed is among the other lead stories.
For those into wrestling history, we have one of our biggest features ever on the career of Jack Brisco. In particular, we look at one of the greatest feuds in pro wrestling history with Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk Jr. over the NWA world heavyweight championship, the psychology behind it and go back to when that was considered the classic wrestling match worldwide. We also talk with some of the greatest wrestlers in history on Jack Brisco, as well as look back at comments about the feud, Brisco, and what was going on from other major power players in the industry at that time.
Both issues are available today for web site subscribers. For those interested in getting the Observer mailed to your home, ordering details follow.
We look at the night Dory Funk Jr. won the NWA title, the process of becoming world champion, Jack Brisco growing up, his early interest in pro wrestling, his heroes growing up, the night he teamed with his idol to win his first major title, his thoughts on Funk Jr. becoming world champion and how that day changed his career.
We look back to the first Funk Jr. vs. Brisco world title match, and how the program heated up including a record setting sellout streak, Terry Funk establishing himself as a top draw, the length and breath of the feud, his background, his personal standards, the announcing of Gordon Solie, Brisco vs. Billy Robinson, the night he was originally supposed to win the title and what happened, his debut in St. Louis, the first Brisco vs Funk Jr. match in that city, the Brisco Brothers vs Funk Brothers, setting the all-time Florida record gate, the longest matches in modern wrestling history and the setting up of his world title run.
We look at the build for Brisco vs. Funk Jr. in Houston, the title change to Harley Race, the win over Harley Race and how it was covered at the time, as well as comments from people like Dory Jr., Ric Flair, Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Bill Watts and many others.
We also have major career record rundowns on Brisco, life outside of wrestling, health issues, the hotel story with Billy Robinson, outside the ring stories, behind the selling of WCW, Black Saturday, Jack's final NWA title match, how he first got over, his leaving wrestling and so much more.
This is, size wise, one of the biggest biographies in the history of the Observer, and really couldn't be fitting because Brisco was a consensus all-time great.
We also have tons more on the WWE NXT show, including different ideas talked about, as well as a reaction of someone close to the situation regarding thoughts on the currently planned direction.
We also have notes on the 2010 schedule for Shawn Michaels.
We also have a look at the end of the careers of Ron Simmons and Mark Coleman.
We've got full coverage of UFC 109, with business notes, why the TV ratings were up, early buy rate indicators, the debut of Phil Davis, plus match-by-match coverage, poll results and payoff records for the night.
We also have a detailed look at step-by-step, what happened with Davey Richards, ROH and Dragon Gate USA.
We've got a look at Ron Simmons, noting his college football success, how he got into pro wrestling, his early days in Florida, the tag team of Doom, the story behind his WCW title win and his tenure in WWE, plus a look at the first African-American stars to have held world titles.
We've got an update on WWE video game sales. We've got more on WWE WrestleMania week plans, how Serena Deeb made it to the main roster, an update on the Linda McMahon campaign for the senate, attempts for Vancouver too get WrestleMania, future of ECW talent, Fozzy and WWE new CD record sales, more on the Marella sitcom, Royal Rumble all-time records, PPV site change, Mickie James' first record, Cena knocks Hogan, update on developmental, new WWE guest hosts and house show rundowns.
We also have a look at the ratings for all the major pro wrestling and MMA shows on television over the past week.
We also have our usual weekly features such as the results of the biggest matches of the week and rundown of the major television shows.
The Wrestling Observer ranges from 25,000 to 40,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA all over the world.
Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sites and has the most complete look at the business as a whole anywhere.
The Observer is now in its 28th year of being the leading insider pro wrestling publication in the world. The biggest and most influential names in the pro wrestling industry as well as the MMA industry, from bookers, to promoters to Hall of Fame wrestlers and fighters to the biggest current names, both on camera, and behind the scenes, along with thousands of readers in all 50 states and 30 countries subscribe. Many have subscribed as long as 20 years or more straight. They get the most detailed and inside coverage of what is going on all over the world and an accuracy from having the most inside sources that can't be found on the web. Everyone from Wall Street to the major offices to the TV networks in U.S. and Japan turn to the Observer for what is going on in the business. If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today. Just send your Visa or Master Card order with your name, address, phone number, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can order by faxing that information to 408-244-3402. You can also subscribe via paypal at www.paypal.com and using the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it address or subscribe via check, cash or money order, as well as credit card, by mail, by sending to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228.
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-- There will be a major announcement by TNA on Monday that most figure will be the announcement that they are going live on Monday nights.
-- John Morrison worked the WWE house show in Quito, Ecuador last night and was moving along fine on his supposedly injured ankle.
-- Daniel Bryan does, in fact, appear to be Bryan Danielson's new WWE name.
-- UFC officially announced 113 in Montreal for May 8th with Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua in a rematch for the Light Heavyweight Title headlining.
-- Dave has an awesome story on Danny Hodge here.
-- Vince Russo talks his writing style here. This one is a doozy.
-- Regarding the video on Youtube hyping up a summer return of Major League Wrestling, Court Bauer has nothing to do with it and says there is no return coming.
-- Emerson writes: I do not know if this is a DirecTV thing or a TNA thing, but after several weeks of being listed as TNA Impact on the guide, next Thursday is back to being listed as TNA Wrestling, so you may wanna let people who DVR the show know that. Would be nice if this company could get its act together.
-- Jereme Warneck writes: There are only 3 sports that the Las Vegas Sports Books take bets on that can be decided solely by human scoring. The first 2 we cover, boxing and MMA. The other is Women's Olympic Ice Skating. They do not take bets on any other form of ice skating. As a rule, Las Vegas avoids taking bets on sporting events that can be decided solely on human scoring. They are too easy to manipulate and in the other fields they could not generate enough betting to make it worth the risk.
-- Mike Sempervive and I will be doing a Wrestling Observer Live pre-tape tonight starting around 10 PM Pacific. We'll be taking calls at some point between 10 and midnight Pacific and will have info on how to call in on the front page during that time. This is for the show that will air on Sirius Satellite Radio and Sports Byline USA, so if you have things you want to talk about, anything regarding wrestling or MMA, feel free to call.
-- Thursday was the 20th anniversary of Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson at the Tokyo Dome.
-- Dana White has reached 1 million followers on Twitter.
-- There is a video look at the Jack Brisco funeral here with footage of Dusty Rhodes, Jim Ross and others. Ross is still having problems with one side of his face due to his latest Bell's palsy attack, but his speech is fine and he looks great, having dropped a lot of weight after getting serious about his diet and hitting the gym several times per week.
-- Ross has a look at Brisco's funeral here.
-- Full transcript of the WWE Quarterly earnings report is here
-- Lucha VaVoom brings wrestling and burlesque together in downtown LA by my buddy Mike Roe, with quotes from Dr. Lucha Steve Sims.
-- Hunter unveils his new action figure here.
-- CIMA cuts a Myspace promo on the Young Bucks here.
-- Linda McMahon's WWE Problem
-- Part 2 of Brian Fritz's Mick Foley interview is up here.
-- Dan Severn, who is still competing at age 51, fights on April 18th at he Newcastle Radio Arena. More info at optimusfightingchampionship.com
-- What do you think of the decision to ax Survivor Series?
It has a lot of tradition, no reason to do so, decline in buys had nothing to do with name 76.2%
Name is antiquated, concept obsolete, correct decision 14.5%
Makes no difference to me, aside from the big three, a PPV is a PPV 9.3%
Which show do you think did more North American PPV buys
Royal Rumble 54.0%
UFC 109 46.0%
What do you consider the biggest of these news stories in 2010
Bret Hart returns to WWE 35.2%
Hogan, Bischoff and Flair to TNA 21.9%
Mayweather-Pacquiao falls apart over drug testing 14.6%
January 4 Monday Night Wars 11.5%
Brock Lesnar's health issue 7.2%
Jack Brisco passes away 3.6%
UFC selling 10% of the company to Abu Dhabi government arm 2.8%
Vince McMahon closes ECW 1.7%
Changes in TNA 0.8%
Linda McMahon's senatorial campaign 0.6%
-- The February 2010 Independent World MMA Rankings are up here.
-- Dave will be on the Drunkcast tonight, presumably sober, at blogtalkradio.com.
-- Chikara runs February 27th at the Goodwill Fire Assn. Hall, 100 Madison AVE in Reading PA at 7:00 PM. The Young Lions Cup will be defended on that show.
-- The PWHF Fundraising Dinner is the lead story in the SLAMMER wrestling column in today's NY Daily News.
-- LEGENDS OF THE RING 10, Saturday May 15, 2010, 9:00 am, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Monroe Township, NJ with El Gigante, Jeff Jarrett, Rhino, the Hebners, Sean Mooney (someone ask him about WWE), Kurrgan, and MANTAUR among others.
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